The present invention relates to computer software systems that permit installation-side customization and protection schemes therefor.
Businesses and end users are demanding increasingly more tailored software solutions for their day-to-day operations. The earliest application programs were shipped as final-state products which did not permit alteration at installation sites. Slowly, more and more software publishers began to build into their products features that can be customized to meet their customers' needs, from configuring user interface features to altering behavior of the applications.
An application typically passes through multiple stages before reaching its end user and is likely to be modified at each stage. For example, an application publisher may wish to disable selected functionality within an application because of its contract agreement with a particular client. It can customize the application before delivering to the client. Later, when the client receives the application, it may want to further customize it, such as configure it to comply with certain setup standards, before installing it on to corporate computers. It would be desirable if certain settings can be changed without affecting other settings and the stability of the application.
To this end, developers may publish Extensible Markup Language (“XML”) documents that contain information which would govern the appearance and behavior of underlying applications. XML is a tag- and attribute-driven computer language designed to capture data and data structures in plain text form. XML documents are simple to use and easy to change, yet capable of describing sophisticated data structures. As a customization solution, they offer both power and convenience. However, there are disadvantages.
A standard XML document lacks the ability to self-protect. The document is either fully exposed for revision or not exposed at all. If a developer were to fully expose an XML configuration document to its users, this would permit the users to alter any value without restriction, and could place the underlying application's stability at risk. For example, a user could open and edit an XML document in a word processor or a standard XML parser, which usually allows full access to the document. If the user unwarily and incorrectly modifies a critical setting, the application could behave unexpectedly or cease to operate altogether.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a technique that would take advantage of XML's simplicity and flexibility, yet allow fine tuned control over which portion of the document can be accessed and which should be protected and hidden from the user.